Arte Povera: Impoverished Art

Lucio Fontana - Crucifixion - 1948 - Glazed ceramic - 19 1/8 x 12 3/8 x 9 1/8" (48.6 x 31.4 x 23.2 cm) - Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) - New YorkThe Italian term “Arte Povera” was introduced as a label for a small group of artists who were experimenting with nontraditional and politically charged art. These artists created and explored modes of expression such as ephemeral art, performance art, installation art and assemblage.These techniques have since become extremely common tools in contemporary art. This is proof of how a small and short-lived movement continues to have relevance over time. Argentine born Italian Arte Povera sculptor Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) traveled to Paris in 1935 and joined the group Abstraction-Création . The same year, he developed his skills in ceramics in Albisola, Italy, and later at the Sèvres factory, near Paris. He moved back to Milan in 1947 and in collaboration with a group of writers and philosophers, signed the "Primo manifesto dello spazialismo" (First manifesto of spatialism). He subsequently resumed his ceramic work in Albisola to explore these new ideas.